Much of our prayer and worship is within a community.  We sing hymns together. We voice prayers together. We build relationships with fellow believers. Yet sometimes our relationship with God can best be deepened by time spent alone. Some people find solitude more congenial than others.  Not all of us are natural solitaries. But solitude is not yet prayer; it is a way into prayer. Solitude is a door.

When you open the door of solitude, you may find another door behind it.  That is the door of silence. Silence, too, is an environment for prayer. In silence we put ourselves in touch with God and also with our deeper selves.  Thoughts long buried come to the surface.  Long-repressed feelings bubble up. Silence exposes certain issues in our lives, and almost without effort, what is most important comes to the forefront. Now we can place that “most important issue” before God as we pray.

Doors into Prayer – An Invitation
Emilie Griffin

The second paragraph is why it is hard for me to “be still and know that He is God”.  The exposure of my “self” is too overwhelming to deal with.  I would rather have my 30 minute devotions where I read for 15-20 minutes and pray for 10 minutes and off I go. Devotions. Check. Next item on the list…

Solitude, Silence, Being Still – Scarey things.  We are made to be community minded, family oriented, relational people. Busyness is a way of life.  Or is it?  Just because I am community minded, family oriented and relational doesn’t mean I MUST be busy. Is busyness my excuse not to be still?  Do I need busyness intervention?  I know my heart needs this intervention.  My spiritual life will dry up and die without it.

This week has been a week of reflection and examination of the state of my spiritual walk with the Lord.  The Lord has been asking for some heart issues to be exposed and to be dealt with.  As much I as would like to resist, I need this probing examination. Thank you Lord for stopping me in my tracks and showing me areas of need – intervening with gentle reminders.  In your presence is fullness of joy.

Psalm 16

1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. 2 I say to the Lord, You are my Lord;I have no good apart from you. 3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. 4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;their drink offerings of blood I will not pour outor take their names on my lips. 5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;you hold my lot. 6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. 7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;in the night also my heart instructs me.

8 I have set the Lord always before me;because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;my flesh also dwells secure. 10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,or let your holy one see corruption. 11 You make known to me the path of life;in your presence there is fullness of joy;at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

 

“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” 

Jeremiah 31:25

Submerged by Mary DeWit Marchant

 

Tuesdays In “other” Words is hosted this week by Christine at Fruit in Season.  Christine has chosen the following quote:

As Christians, we are called to convert our loneliness into solitude. We are called to experience our aloneness not as a wound but as a gift–as God’s gift–so that in our aloneness we might discover how deeply we are loved by God.

~ Henri Nouwen ~

Struck by the portion of the first sentence of this quote that said “convert our loneliness into solitude”,  I looked up the meaning of the word alone.  The definition that caught my eye was – without aid or help.  That was the answer to this quote for me.

There are times when the only person who can help us is God.  The only help others can provide for us is prayer.  They can pray that God helps us and that God comes to our aid. It is in this helplessness this desperation and solitude that God can work to expose areas that hinder our relationship with him.  The following quote says it beautifully:

In silence we put ourselves in touch with God and also with our deeper selves.  Thoughts long buried come to the surface.  Long-repressed feelings bubble up. Silence exposes certain issues in our lives, and almost without effort, what is most important comes to the forefront. Now we can place that “most important issue” before God as we pray.

Emilie Griffin

God loves us and because he loves us he wants no hinderances in our relationship with him.  We need to come to him and say:

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

Thank you Christine for sharing this quote. 
It has been a subject I have been pondering lately.

Now, go check out what others said about this quote that Christine chose at Fruit in Season.